In Garo Hills, the UESI Ministry was started
by Roderick D. Shira and Hubert D. Arengh in 1964. In the year 1961, Roderick
D. Shira was studying B.Sc. in St. Xavier’s College, Calcutta and accepted
Jesus Christ as his personal Savior and Lord. Thereafter, he grew up in
fellowship with Calcutta Intercollegiate Evangelical Union and Carey Baptist
Church. Hubert D. Arengh also studied the B.A. degree in Calcutta and accepted
Jesus Christ as his personal Savior and Lord in 1963. He also became an active
member of Calcutta Intercollegiate Evangelical Union and had fellowship with
Carey Baptist Church, Calcutta. Both Roderick and Hubert shared their
experienced and used to kneel down and pray for the Garo youths so that they
might accept Jesus as their personal Lord and Savior.[1]
Contributions of UESI, in Garo Hills Region
Contributions of Garo Hills based UESI
ministry is not recorded by the earlier researchers. But the scholar has found it
so many contributions made by the ministry. Researched has been done by the
scholar about its contribution in a scholarly view. Some of its contributions
are given below:
Bringing Back the Doctrine of Salvation
In Garo Hills, Omed and Ramke were the first
converts among the Garos. But after the dead of Ramke, Omed and, Thankan and
some of the first generation Christians, the Garo churches have lost the right
teaching about the doctrine of salvation.
In most of the churches, tradition became the central for the church,
not the word of God. After India became independence, the American Baptist
Missionaries had to leave India and the Garo Churches became like an orphan
church. Because of that, they could not
train their leaders. When they evangelized and visited the houses, they just
told the people to baptize and to go to the church. They did not have the
teachings of salvations, and acceptance of Jesus. If someone is active or
regular church goers, he or she would be appointed as pastors. Most of the teachings in the churches or in
the conferences were mostly allegorical. According to them, going to church
regularly, participating with the church members in social works and some good
deeds were the means of salvation, but these are not there in the Bible. So,
when the UESI ministry started in Garo Hills, they tried to bring back or
revive the teachings of right doctrine of the salvation and assurance of
salvation.[2]
They organized youth Camps, Crusades and invited many top leaders from the
outside. After wrestling for almost a decade, they could influence the Garo
Churches, especially the leaders.
Contributions Towards Nation Building
There are many people who are working towards
the nation building. Whether we are students, business people, and working with
different professions are working towards the nation building. But so far as this
project is concerned; nation building refers to the politicians or the
legislators. One of the active UESI members is a former Dadenggre M.L.A and a
former Chief Executive Member, of Garo Hills Autonomous District Council, Mr. Edmund
K. Sangma. He was also one of the dynamic preachers among the lay leaders.
Another active member of UESI is P.K.Sangma, who was also a former Chief
Executive Member of Garo Hills Autonomous District Council. One of the
remarkable figures among the active UESI member is none other than, but he is
Dr. Mukul M. Sangma, a former Chief Minister of Meghalaya. Former Rajya Sabha
M.P.of Meghalaya and present M.L.A of North Tura Constituency and Adviser to
the Chief Minister, Government of Meghalaya, Thomas A. Sanngma also an active
member of UESI-Tura.[3]
Present Siju-Rongara M.L.A, Rakam M. Sangma who is present Education Minister of Govt. of Meghalaya and a former Baghmara M.L.A, Shatto
Marak also active members of UESI.[4]
Upgradation of Bible School into Harding Theological College
In order to train the Garo Pastors and
leaders, American Baptist Missionaries who were working in Assam had a planned
to open a Bible School for the Garos. This plan was fulfilled in 1919. This
Bible School was known as A∙chik Bible School and Frederick W. Harding was its
principal. In 1968, this Bible School was named as Harding Bible School. Some
of the earlier leaders were trained in the Bible School. When the American
Baptist Mission left India and went back to their native country, the Bible
School was run by the Garo Baptist Convention and the institution continued to
train the leaders and pastors of the Churches.[5]
When the UESI ministry came to Garo Hills, many of the Church members and
leaders rejected their movements. Bu the students those who involved in the
ministry tried to response from the biblical point of view. When the church
members try to argue with the members of student ministry, they know that their
biblical knowledge is very less when compared to those who involved in the UESI
ministry. So in order to equip the leaders and pastors with more biblical knowledge,
Garo Baptist Convention has decided to upgrade the Bible School into
Theological College.[6]
So, the first Theological College is started with B.Th Course in 1995 and the
college is named as A∙chik Theological College and Dr. Shalindro R. Marak was
its Principal. The college has been affiliated to the Senate of Serampore
College, University under the Principalship of Dr. Shalindro R. Marak. In
February 2006, the college was renamed as Harding Theological College, after
the name of the founding Principal of the institution. Today, many Church
leaders and Pastors are being trained by the theological college. The college
has started the Bachelor of Divinity (B.D) course in 2012. In 2013, the HTC
Board of governors decided to upgrade the college to M.Th program and was
approved by the Garo Baptist Convention and decided to offer the course by
2021.[7]
The college is now offering Bachelor of Biblical Mission (Mission), and even
Doctor of Ministry (D.Min).
Due to the movement of USEI and some other
Para-church organization, Garo Baptist Convention realized that their leaders
and pastors are equipped with Biblical knowledge and therefore, in the years
2000, during celebration of 125 years of its existence, Garo Baptist Convention
has taken the resolution that each and every church of Garo Baptist Church
should appoint the pastor who holds the minimum B.D. degree holder.[8]
Social
Action
According to Rev. Janang R. Sangma, General
Secretary of Garo Baptist Convention, there is no direct contribution of UESI,
towards the social development of society. But there are lots of indirect
contributions which are made by the ministry. Before coming of the UESI, most
of the Church leaders have very narrow minded view of church, mission and evangelism. They could neither see the Bible from the
deep understanding nor do they see outside the pulpit ministry, that is social
work. Their connections were mainly with only church going people. But those
who involved in the UESI ministry have wider connection with Government,
Companies, NGOs, and Funding Agencies. Rev. Janang R. Sangma himself was an
active member and served in the ministry for several years have wider
connection with outsiders. He himself said that Evangelism and Social Action
must go hand in hand. Therefore, while he was working as an Executive Secretary
of Krima No.IV, their Krima or association has connected with the International
Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD)
and worked towards the up-gradation of society. This project brought many
changes like improvement of agricultural system, entrepreneurship, self
employment or self sustainability, road connectivity, many banking system and employment
generation. The scholar also worked as a community Coordinator of one of the
societies under this project. Another
project taken up by Garo Baptist Convention under his leadership is NECORD.
This project also gave employment generation, social up-gradation, gave
awareness about the human trafficking and environmental issues.[9]
Omed Momin and Ramke Momin were the first
converts among the Garos into Christianity and both of them were zeal for
evangelism.[10]
Rev. Thankan K. Sangma who had attended the 1910 Edinburgh, International
Mission Conference was also active for evangelism. He went to almost all parts
of Garos Hills, and also to some of the other north-eastern states and had a
vision to go to Bhutan.[11] But after the death of these first and second
generation Christians, most of the Garo Churches were so slow in mission and
evangelism. Krima IV and Tura based churches are the leading examples to the
other churches in many aspects. But according to Rev.Janang R. Sangma, former
UESI worker, former Executive Secretary of Krima No. IV and present General Secretary
of A∙chik Baptist Dal∙gipa Krima or the Garo Baptist Convention, even the Krima
IV and Tura based churches are very slow in mission and evangelism. They were
too slow not only to work towards other parts of the region, but they are too
slow to work within their own jurisdiction. According to him, neither they
allow the others to come and work in their jurisdiction, nor do they themselves
work for the mission. But when some of the active members of the UESI ministry
become the leaders and pastors of the churches, the mindset of the people have
changed. Some of them are Rev. Janang R. Sangma who served as an Executive
Secretary Krima No.IV and present General Secretary of Garo Baptist Convention,
Rev. Dilseng M. Sangma who served as a Pastor of Wadanang Baptist Church and
present Executive Secretary of Krima No. IV, Rev. Monteng T. Sangma one of the
leaders of Krima No. IV, Rev. Stafford K. Sangma, Pastor Tura Baptist Church,
Rev. Greater Burn R. Marak former Pastor of Goanang Baptist Church and former President
of Garo Baptist Convention, Rev. Krickwin C.Marak, former General Secretary and
Lecturer of Harding Theological College, Rev. Dr. Chakme C. Marak, Professor of
Harding Theological College, Tura, Rev. Rinje N. Sangma, Lecturer of Harding
Theological College Tura, Jaksil A. Sangma, former Director of Women’s
Ministry, Garo Baptist Convention and Bonjera Nochi A. Sangma, Director of
Women’s Ministry, Garo Baptist Convention. When those UESI actively members
became the leaders in the churches and association, they had contact with other
mission minded people, churches and associations. So after breaking those
traditional barriers, they started doing the mission in partnership with other
churches and agencies.[12]
One of the reasons why the churches were too
slow in mission works was due to the lack of fund raising and giving. But these
UESI actively involved leaders had some creativity in fund raising for mission.
Merong Jakep or the Handful of Rise is initiated by Rev. Ramke Momin, of the
first converts among the Garos into Christianity. In the beginning, this
kitchen project was used as a charity work and then used for the mission work.
Salje K. Sangma was appointed as a coordinator of this kitchen project. She used
to go and requested the other women about the keeping of this handful of rice
or merong jakep. But slowly and steadily, this project also went down.[13]
So, with a view to revive this project again, Lindrid D. Shira, a former
Principal of Tura Government College, and a former Secretary of Meghalaya Board
of School Education, Tura wrote a book about the keeping of merong jakep or the
handful of rice. He is younger brother of the founder of Garo Hills based UESI,
Roderick D. Shira. He was also an active member of UESI. So this book was
published by Krima No. IV, when Rev. Janang R. Sangma was Executive Secretary
of the Krima or association and used as a mission fund. So, the mission and
evangelism movement started by those leaders have greatly affected the others
regions of the Garo churches.[14]
Some of them moved towards the other states of India and beyond.
Producing Lay
Leaders
In a church set up, lay leader is not a
theologically trained. So the UESI, Garo Hills region base has contributed a
lot to the development of lay leaders. Roderick D. Shira, the founder of
UESI-Tura also not a theologically trained. He had conducted Bible studies for
students as well as to the civil servants. As far as his testimony is
concerned, he could not become a Pastor, but he could work with the other
people where no pastors can go. Because of him, many Bodo Churches were
developed spiritually. He also served as a President of Garo Baptist
Convention. His younger brother, Lindrid D. Shira, a former Principal of Tura
Government College also one of the dynamic speakers among the Garo lay leaders.
He also worked with the youths of Garo Baptist convention and also served as a
President of the convention. Politeson R. Marak, a former lecturer of Tura
Government College, Tura also one of the dynamic preachers among the lay
leaders.[15]
Another dynamic preacher among the lay leaders and civil servants is Grover
C.R.Marak. He also served as a President of Garo Baptist Convention. The other
dynamic preachers of lay leaders who actively involved in the UESI, Garo Hills
Region are, Edmund K. Sangma, Dr. Tony Travert C. Marak and Dr. Meril N.
Sangma.[16]
Leading and Conducting Bible Studies
When Roderick D. Shira and Huberth D. Areng
came to Tura, together they started a Bible Study for the Garo Youths at Tura
Baptist Church. Subsequently the Bible Study was conducted at Forestilla in the
residence of Mr. Ralte, the then Assistant Soil Conservator Officer, Government
of Assam. Many people attended the gospel meetings and accepted Jesus Christ as
their Lord and Savior. Some of them are Ashutosh, Tony Travert Marak, Crickwin
C. Marak, Utam A. Sangma, Knudsenberg Momin.[17]
The Bible Study for the Youths was continued
by Mr. Politeson R. Marak, Lindrid D. Shira, Ms
Delphine G. Momin, Ms Vivian Ch. Momin, Ms Claudia B. Sangma, Ms Viola
K.G. Momin, and Grover C.R. Marak. The First Evangelistic Camp was organized in
1972 in Christian Boy’s Hostel, at Mission Compound and P.C.Vergheese was the speaker.[18] According
to Rev. Janang R. Sangma, the General Secretary of Garo Baptist Convention,
this could be the First Bible Camp organized in the Garo Hills region.[19]
This Evangelistic Camp had affected the students a lot. Most of the students
had involved in ICEU and in Local Churches. Some of the educated Garo youths
like Lindrid D. Shira, Politeson R. Marak, Grover C.R.Marak became the Dynamic
Speakers. The Evangelistic Camp was conducted in 1973 at Rongkhon B.T.School.
Consequently, the Bible Camps were organized in their localities and Lindrid D.
Shira, Politeson R. Marak and Grover C.R.Marak were invited as speakers.[20] Rev. James Wood, the then Principal of the
A∙chik Bible School allowed Bible School to conduct the Bible Studies. Zelda
Bate, the last American Missionary Faculty of Christian Girl’s School would
bring the class 9 and 10 students to attend the Bible Studies.[21]
Important Persons to be remembered
In Garo Hills, most of the leaders both from
secular and church leaders are products of UESI, Tura. As stated above, the
Bible Study in Garo Hills was initiated by the founders of UESI, that is
Roderick D. Shira and Huberth D. Arengh. Tony Travert C. Marak is one of the
first attended in the Bible Study led by them. He is a former Director of the
Meghalaya Board of School Education and an active member of the Shillong
Baptist Church. Rev. Crickwin C. Marak also attended the Bible Study led by
Shira and Arengh. He served as a Lecturer in UBS, Pune and also in Harding
Theological College Tura. He also served as a General Secretary of the Garo
Baptist Convention. Knudsenberg C. Momin also attended the Bible Study led by
them. He is a retired Soil Conservation Officer Government of Meghalaya.[22]
He also served as a President of the Garo Baptist Convention.
In the History of Garo Baptist Church,
especially in bringing back the doctrine of salvation to the Garo Hills almost
everybody will remember Dr. Shallindro R. Marak. He toured to every nook and
corner of the Garo Hills to preach and teach about the salvation to the Garos.
After finishing his B.D. degree, he was appointed as a teacher of the A∙chik
Bible School on May 1 1983. With the purpose of serving better in the field of
theology, he continued to do his M.Th, M.Phil and Ph.D. During his time, A∙chik
Bible School has upgraded to theological College and named as A∙chik
Theological College and later renamed as Harding Theological College.[23]
Rev. Janang R. Sangma, the present General
Secretary is also an active member and a product of UESI, Tura. He himself
served as a UESI, Staff member in Shillong. He also served as a pastor in
Shilling Garo Baptist Church. He also served as an Executive Secretary of the
Krima No. IV, Tura. Some of the products and active members of the UESI are Manje
D. Shira who has been serving in Mongolia, Emalada Diengdoh who is working in
Japan, Chingnang Ch. Marak working in Laos, Jangseng D. Shira who is working in
Bhutan. The first IAS Officer among the Garos, Utham K. Sangma is also a
product of UESI ministry Tura. There are many more leaders and important
personalities who are the products of the ministry.[24]
Some of them are working as full time in the churches and some of them are in
the secular fields. Some of its members have been serving in the national level
and some in the international level. Sundar Sangma has served as a director of
the Haggai India and presently he is serving as a Vice President of
International Haggai Ministry. His younger brother, Bijoy A. Sangma is serving
as an Executive Director of Haggai India. He is also serving as a President of
the Asian Pacific Baptist Federation.[25]
In
the above discussions and descriptions, scholar has shown that the Garo Hills
based UESI ministry has contributed a lot to the Churches in Garo Hills and to
the society as well. Somehow the Garo Churches have lost the teaching about the
doctrine of salvation, but the UESI ministry has revived it again. The Bible
Studies, Bible Camps and Crusades were also started by the ministry many lives
have been brought back; the lives of the Christianity in Garo Hills become
better again. The only one theological collage that is Harding Theological
College once a Bible School was upgraded to Theological College because of the
movement of the UESI ministry. It has produced number of leaders including MLAs
and Ministers. The mission activities of the churches were improved because of
the UESI ministry. It also contributed a lot to the social development.
[1] Roderick D.Shira, “The Recollections of a Pioneer,” in Souvenir Tura ICEU (Tura: Souvenir Committee, ICEU Tura, 2017), 45
[2] Grover Cleveland R. Marak, Tura, 20/05/2020.
[3] Edmund K. Sangma, Raksamgre, 19/02/2019.
[4] Janang R. Sangma, ABDK Office Tura, 22/10/2020.
[5] Imnanungshi Imsong, “Principal Report on History and Academic Life of the College,” in Harding Theological College 1919-2019: A Century of Service in Faith and Unity,(Tura: Souvenir Committee, Harding Theological College Centinary Celebration, 2019),21-23.
[6] Janang R. Sangma, interviewed on 22/10/2020.
[7] Imnanungshi Imsong, “Principal Report on History and Academic Life of the College,” in Harding ….21-23.
[8] Janang R. Sangma, interviwed on 22/10/20.
[9] Janang R. Sangma, ABDK Office
Tura, 22/10/2020.
[10] Martin R.
Sangma, Church Planting in Garo Hills,
(Tura: Muktarani P. Marak, 2003),2.
[11] L.D.Shira, “Rev. Thankan K.
Sangma,” in Awensingh S. Rongmuthu Ed, A∙chik
A∙songona Baptist Ma∙malni Sokbaani, (Chokpot: A∙chik Baptist Krima
No. VII, 2013), 31-60.
[12] Janang R. Sangma, ABDK Office Tura, 22/10/2020.
[13]
L.D.Shira, “Salje K. Sangma,” in
Awengsingh S. Rongmuthu Ed, A∙chik A∙songona Baptist Ma∙malni Sokbaani, (Chokpot: A∙chik Baptist Krima No. VII, 2013),
77-82.
[14] Janang R.Sangma, ABDK Office Tura, 22/10/2020.
[15] Rederick D. Shira, “EU Momevment: The Beginnings,” in Souvenir Tura ICEU ….14—15.
[16] Grover Cleveland R Marak, Tura, 22/05/2020.
[17] Roderick D. Shira, “UE Mvement: The Begennings,” in Souvenir Tura ICEU …14
[18] Roderick D. Shira, “UE Mvement: The Begennings,” in Souvenir Tura ICEU…14
[19] Janang R. Sangma, interviwed on 22/10/2020
[20] Roderick D. Shira, “UE Mvement: The Begennings,” in Souvenir Tura ICEU (Tura: Souvenir Committee, ICEU …45
[21] Janang R. Sangma, ABDK Office Tuura, 22/10/2020.
[22] Roderick D. Shira, “UE Mvement: The Begennings,” in Souvenir Tura ICEU …14
[23]
F.K.Marak, “Dr. Shallindro
R. Marakko Gisik Ra∙ani,” in Harding Theological College, 1919-2019: A
Century of Service in Faith and Unity, (Souvenir Committee HTC: Tura,
2019), 94-99.
[24] Janang R Sangma, ABDK Ofiice, Tura, 22/10/2020.
[25] Sundar Sangma, “Friendship Matters,” in Souvenir Tura ICEU (Tura: Souvenir Committee, ICEU …24
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